Airtel’s Quarterly Profit Jumps 31% as Data Use Grows

Airtel’s customers used an average of 36.5 gigabytes of mobile data each month in the September quarter, up 36.5% from a year earlier. The surge came alongside higher earnings: the telecom operator reported net profit of ₹8,887.5 crore, up 31% year on year, and revenue of ₹60,877.5 crore, up 16.7%. Its average monthly revenue per mobile user reached ₹271, compared with ₹256 a year earlier. ^1,9

That ₹271 figure reflects Airtel’s effort to persuade customers to spend more on higher-priced plans while adding smartphone data users. India mobile revenue rose 10.1% year on year, and 2.9 million smartphone data customers joined during the quarter. Smartphone data users made up 81% of Airtel’s mobile customer base. The company also added a record 1.2 million postpaid customers, bringing that base to 31.2 million. Across its businesses, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rose 17.8% to ₹35,240 crore. ^1,16

Those 81% smartphone users need networks that can keep up with their growing appetite for data. Airtel added 497 towers and 11,684 mobile broadband stations during the quarter, and laid 44,718 kilometres of fibre over the past year. Its Homes business added 676,000 customers, while revenue there grew 25.3%. These investments reach beyond mobile phones: they support home broadband, business connections and the company’s plan to build data centres. But the results also show a limit to the growth story: analysts expected higher profits, even as revenue and operating earnings beat estimates. ^1,7,15

That network push came with ₹12,467 crore in quarterly investment, plus ₹2,826 crore for land intended for data-centre expansion. Executive Vice Chairman Gopal Vittal said Airtel aims to build 1 gigawatt of data-centre capacity in India. The company’s stronger earnings and lower debt ratio give it room to keep investing, while customers and businesses increasingly depend on its connections. ^1,8